


First Days

by commodorecliche



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Orchestra, Cocky Jean, College, Crushes, Crushin Hard, Dates, First Meetings, Fluff, Getting to Know Each Other, M/M, Meet-Cute, New Kid Marco, Orchestra, Romance, Shy Marco, cute stuff, new kid, rehearsal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-09
Updated: 2016-01-09
Packaged: 2018-05-12 17:43:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5674879
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/commodorecliche/pseuds/commodorecliche
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>'you sit in front of me in orchestra and you turned around to laugh at the percussionist and holy fuck you’re really cute au' </i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	First Days

**Author's Note:**

> This is a request I wrote on tumblr for a lovely anon a while back, but never got around to posting on AO3. It's basically just little college orchestra dorks meeting for the first time, and it was fun and cute.

The first day at a new school is never easy. And the first day in a new  _orchestra_ at a new school is even worse. That is a fact that Marco knows all too well. Marco thought that after high school, things would get a little easier as far as social interactions go – a little less awkward, a little less nerve-wracking – and yet, here he is, nervous as can be on his first day like a first grader who's mom just dropped him off at the front of the school.

He's survived his first day of classes though. And despite having to wander around the Trost College campus for a good while to locate the music hall, he does manage to find the auditorium long before their rehearsal is supposed to start.  

He’s happy to be early, though, quietly unpacking his flute in the corner of the room and waiting for other people to arrive so that he can figure out where his section is. So far today, his classes have gone well enough. The people have been friendly and his professors have been kind and thorough, but he hasn’t really had the chance to interact with anyone at length. So he's hoping that perhaps rehearsal might provide a slightly more social environment than lecture and at the very least, he's hoping that the people in his section will be kind.

The door of the auditorium opens with a dramatic whoosh, and Marco jerks his gaze up from his instrument as the director, Levi, strides in swiftly. The man sets eyes on Marco and looks at him with a mild look of surprise on his face. They’d only met briefly when Marco had first auditioned prior to the start of the semester, and he wonders if Director Ackerman even remembers him. 

“Mr. Bodt... You’re early.”

Okay, so he does remember. That’s good, at least, Marco thinks it is.  

“Yeah, I wasn’t… really sure where the auditorium was, so I came a little early... just in case.”

“Well, looks like you didn’t have too much trouble.” the director remarks flatly, already moving towards the rostrum and stepping up onto it. He begins to organize a few sheets onto the stand in front of him as Marco approaches him awkwardly.

“Director Ackerman?”

“Yes?” He replies, not even looking up from the pages he’s so frenetically organizing.

“Where will the flutes sit?”

“Oh, right” Levi glances up and points towards a couple of chairs in the second row. “You’ll be there. There’s only two of you, though.”

Marco nods and heads towards the chairs, taking a seat and beginning to warm up quietly.

**::**

After a while, the rest of the orchestra begins to filter in. Marco quickly understands why Levi had looked at him with such confusion earlier: the rest of the ensemble seems rather unconcerned about the scheduled start time of the rehearsal. Many of them roll in just barely on time, and one or two of them dart in just as Levi as reclaiming his spot at the front.

The director clears his throat loudly, gaining the attention of the chattering room as they all steadily claim their seats. The three viola players that sit directly in front of Marco are quite a trio to look at, even from behind, Marco muses to himself. On the far right is a titan of a man – tall and muscular, with a mop of dark hair. He sits rather close to the blonde to his left – a big, burly guy with shoulders as wide as Texas. The guy sitting directly in front of Marco looks downright tiny in comparison to those two - he’s trim, but not skinny, his shoulders and posture relaxed and carefree. His hair is cut in a strange, yet somehow fitting, two-toned undercut and Marco can’t quit staring at it.

Suddenly, a perky looking girl rushes into the auditorium in a blur. She settles down haphazardly with a plop in the chair beside Marco, fumbling to open her case as Levi begins to address the group. He lists off the rehearsal order for their pieces today, as well as emphasizing how he very much hopes that everyone practiced over break, as they were supposed to. Marco only half pays attention, part of him focusing on the girl next to him, and the guy sitting in front of him. It takes a few moments, but once the girl has her flute put together and sheet music out, she doesn't hesitate to smile at Marco and whisper happily to him. 

“Hiiii. I’m Sasha. You the new flute?”

“Yeah, I’m Marco,” he whispers back with a smile, trying his best not to talk loud enough that Levi might hear him.

“Glad it’s not just me now!” She looks like she’s about to say something else, but she goes quiet as Levi is quickly calls for instruments up, ready to begin their warm up and tuning. She and Marco both quickly bring their flutes up to their lips to begin with the rest of the group.

**::**

The practice is going… alright, Marco supposes. It certainly isn’t great, though. These people have probably all played together for a while at least, but given it’s the first day back from winter break, it sounds like everyone is a bit rusty.

And Levi is definitely  _not_ happy about it - not that Marco blames him. Their timing is off, and their sight-reading is _severely_ lacking, and Levi is mumbling something about how the discordant noise sounds more or less like a dying whale. After another moment of obviously unpracticed noise, their director calls for quiet in a frustrated huff, and everyone lowers their instruments.

“God, send me musicians…” Levi mumbles, dragging his fingers across his brow. He closes his eyes, thinking to himself for a moment before sighing. “I’ll be right back; I want to try a different piece with you undisciplined hellions.”

And with that, he steps off the podium and heads for the exit.

As Levi leaves, the room begins to chatter.

“Maybe this time, he just won’t come back…” Says the bald kid with the oboe sitting to the left of Sasha.

“Oh god, Connie, we can only hope.” Sasha mumbles back to him.

“Mannnnnn, we sound like _shit_.” The burly blond in front of Marco groans, laying his violin and bow across his lap before stretching out his arms and draping one around the tall guy to his right.

The brunet just shrugs, leaning into the blond a little bit.

“Eh, we always sound bad after a break, you know that, Rei.” He says.

“Wouldn’t be so bad if fucking Tito Puente back there would keep with the damn tempo.” Undercut quips, cocking his head backwards to gesture towards the percussionist standing in the back of the room.

Marco tries to subtly turn to glance at the back of the room, discretely trying to catch a glimpse of who exactly Undercut is talking about. He spots a brunet with a medium build and bright green eyes, glaring angrily from across the timpani.

That’s gotta be him.

“Oh fuck off, Seabiscuit,” the percussionist spits back, “Dare you to find someone better; I am the best damn timpanist in this school.”

Undercut flings his head around quickly, turning back to shout back to the drummer with a sarcastic scoff.  

“Jaeger, you aren’t even the best timpanist in this _orchestra_.”

“I’m the _only_ timpanist, you ass!”

“Exactly!”

At that, Marco tries like hell to stifle his laugh, but the noise that comes out is a muffled snort that none the less gains the attention of Undercut. He darts his gaze back behind him, trying his best to see who had laughed. His eyes quickly land on Marco and the irritated look on his face quickly fades.

“Oh, hi.” The guy says with surprise, his voice suddenly soft as he looks Marco over.

Marco does his best to smile at him, but he’s suddenly feeling very nervous. Because Undercut is attractive… like… _offensively_ attractive _._ Marco clears his throat, trying his best to swallow the sudden lump that has formed in his throat before he replies.

“Sorry, that was just… really funny.” He forces out, plastering on a small smile.

Undercut doesn’t seem to mind though. There’s a calm smirk on his face as he stares at Marco, a softness on his features so unlike the vitriolic look he’d shot the timpanist just a moment before.

“New flute?” He asks, turning his attention to Sasha briefly.

To Marco’s left, Sasha nods wordlessly.

“Huh, no wonder I thought I could actually  _hear_ the flute section today. Can’t usually hear it at all…” He chides, sparing another glance and a playful wink at Sasha.

Sasha rolls her eyes.

“Oh hardy-freaking-har, you trying being a one-instrument-section and seeing how well you stand out” She snarks, steadily raising her middle finger up to Undercut. “Ignore him, Marco, he thinks he’s funny.” She tells Marco with a shake of her head before turning back to the guy to her left.

Undercut chuckles and shakes his head before returning his attention to Marco curiously. He furrows his brow a bit, staring a bit intensely at Marco for a moment.

“Have we met?” He asks Marco curiously.

Marco just shakes his head.

“I don’t think so… ”

“Were you in Smith’s DifEQ this morning?”

“Yeah, actually… Were you?”

“Mhm. You sat in the front, I remember now.” Undercut pauses and sniggers a little, “Smith likes to pick on the ones in the front, you know?”

Marco chuckles, looking down quickly and shrugging.

“Yeeeah, I kinda figured that out about 10 minutes into class.”

Undercut lets out an amused “heh” and cocks his head to the side.

“You should sit with me next time. I’m Jean.”

Jean reaches over the back of his chair, offering his hand out to Marco, who takes it hesitantly.

“Marco.”

“Good to meet you, Marco.”

Just as Jean releases his hand, the doors of the auditorium fling open again. Levi strides back in quickly, a handful of papers cradled in his arms. As he reaches the ends of the rows, he passes off a select number of sheets, which they all dutifully pass down as they pluck out their respective parts. Jean spares one more glance back at Marco and nods at him.

“Let’s talk after,” he whispers with a wink, before turning back to focus on Levi as he reclaims his position on the rostrum.

“Alright, let’s give this one a try… I pray you guys can’t fuck this one up.” The director groans, raising the baton to cue the room to be ready to start.

**::**

The rest of the practice goes a little bit better: the room overall begins to feel a bit more relaxed and comfortable, players steadily regaining familiarity with their instruments and the pieces they’re playing. Sure, Marco has had better first days, but all in all, this hasn't been a terrible one.

As he’s packing up his instrument at the end of rehearsal, most of the people begin to file out without a moment wasted. Sasha gives him a quick wave, saying it was good to meet him, before trotting after the bald oboist as he leaves.

But as the others filter out, Jean makes a point to stay behind, telling his friends he’ll catch up with them later. He packs up his viola slowly and stands, turning around to face Marco. He waits in silence as Marco finishes cleaning and packing his flute, tucking his case and his folder down into his bag and standing.

Jean just smiles at him, moving with him as they begin to head toward the exit together. Marco is sure he should say something, but he’s at a loss. This guy is attractive (fucking hot), and confident, and witty and Marco just isn’t quite sure how to act around him yet. But Jean seems nice enough. As they exit, he opens the door for Marco, and walks beside him quietly.

As they approach the dorms, Jean pauses outside one of the buildings, cocking his head back towards it.

“This is me. What dorm are you?”

“Oh I’m in Sina, like… allllll the way across campus.”

“Got it.” There’s a gentle lull for a moment, before Jean abruptly speaks again. “Sooo, freaking shot in the dark here, but you wanna hang out sometime?”  

“Oh,” Marco says with surprise,  the boldness of the question catching him off guard. “Like… um, hang out? Or _Hang_ _Out_ hang out?” He asks awkwardly.

Jean pauses for a moment before laughing.

“Ahaha, um… the second, I guess? I’m not entirely sure what the difference is to you though.”

Marco smiles a little and clears his throat.

“Like hanging out like, a couple dudebros watching football or… hanging out like, going to the movies and such?” Marco asks him, uncomfortably fiddling with the straps of his bag.

“Well I’m really more of a coffee-date kind of guy,” Jean starts, “but I can work with the movies, if that’s what you had in mind.”

“So… a date?”

“Yeah, if that’s fine with you.”

“You don’t waste much time, do you?” Marco chuckles, glancing towards his feet. 

Jean just smiles coyly and shakes his head.

“Why should I? You’re attractive and seem really nice, and I’d like to get to know you.”

Marco pauses, a sudden resolve building in his chest.

“I’d like that… To get to know you, I mean.”

Jean shoots him a smile.

“You got a pen?”

Marco swings his bag around quickly, digging down into the front pocket, and drags out one of the pens at the bottom. He hands it over to Jean, and the boy doesn’t hesitate to grab Marco’s hand, turning it over and writing some digits in the palm of his hand.

“There we go. Call me or text me? I’m pretty free most afternoons.”

“Yeah, okay.” Marco says, trying like hell to keep the stupid smile off his face.

“Marco…” Jean says musingly. He doesn’t sound as if he wants Marco’s attention – even though he definitely has it – but rather as if he’s feeling out the name, testing how it feels to say it.

“Jean.” Marco says back softly.

“Talk to you soon.”

And with that, Jean shoots Marco one last wink and pats his arm before heading into his building.

Marco just grins, staring at the door where Jean has disappeared, and he thinks that maybe first days aren’t  _all_ bad. 

**::**

**Author's Note:**

> You can find a rebloggable version [HERE](http://commodorecliche.tumblr.com/post/122048845493/i-only-just-saw-the-post-so-i-dont-kno-if-you).
> 
> And as usual, you can find me either on my [tumblr](http://commodorecliche.tumblr.com) or on my [twitter](http://twitter.com/commodorecliche). 
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
